PLANS for a multi-million pound housing development on land currently earmarked for an animal carcass incinerator are set to be given the go-ahead next week.
Redditch Council planning officers have recommended the plans for seven luxury houses in Popes Lane, Astwood Bank, are approved.
But the scheme will have to be referred to the Secretary of State as it is a departure from the Local Plan.
In August, the Advertiser revealed Popes Lane By-Products, the firm behind the incinerator, had struck a deal with Redditch firm Shire Developments.
Popes Lane By-Products bosses gave the developers until December to gain planning permission and buy the site.
The site is set for a round-the-clock carcass incinerator but those plans, revealed more than two years ago, sparked outrage from residents and parents of pupils at nearby Astwood Bank First School.
Concerns were raised over health and pollution implications for the community.
Plans for the incinerator are still being pursued and only last month, Defra gave the go-ahead for the site to act as a collection centre for animal by-products.
Permission to run an incinerator capable of burning less than 50kg of animal by-products an hour was also granted.
The planning committee will debate plans for the housing development on Tuesday.
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